Sunday, February 08, 2015

Sun Feb 8th Todays News

On Bolt Report an ongoing policy is that any Islam post can only be on the pinned leader. Normal rules apply in that if it is merely foul and abusive it will be deleted. Otherwise comments are welcome. ===A rumour doing the rounds has it that Malcolm Turnbull is close to Clive Palmer and as treasurer or leader could deliver the PUP support needed to pass legislation. Were that true it would be a staggering indictment against the Communications Minister for failing to do so previously. It highlights the worthless nature of Turnbull's assertion he has been loyal to the Liberal Party. Turnbull's apparent subversive behaviour has cost Liberals government in South Australia, Victoria, Queensland and in '07 and '10 federally. If the rumour is not true, Turnbull would be useless as leader or treasurer too. The Liberal Party does not need a spill motion on Monday morning, they need a resignation from the Member of Wentworth. Maybe Turnbull feels that if he were leader then no one would leak against him? If so, then he does not understand the press. There is a possibility that two Bali 9 inmates scheduled for execution won't be executed. Andrew Chan's and Myuran Sukumaran's former lawyer, who had been the one present when they were sentenced to be executed, has given testimony that the sentences were politically influenced. If this is true then the sentence has to be overturned because a judge is supposed to be unbiased. But then the news is supposed to be unbiased too. The Indonesian ambassador has downplayed the possibility, saying that the various appeals had been heard at the highest levels of Indonesian government. But then that is the allegation too. Kayla Jean Mueller, an aid worker, 26, from Arizona working in Syria, had been kidnapped by ISIL death cult. She had been working for Spanish Doctors Without Borders. Held in captivity for eighteen months, the terrorists are claiming she was killed by a Jordanian air strike. Presumably that means her jailers were killed too.

2014

For a journalist, words are tools of trade. It goes to credibility if they don't write what they mean, as failure suggests they don't mean what they write. Andrew Bolt makes a good point about the ABC being savaged over a single issue by conservatives. The issue is either far wider, or it isn't an issue. I believe bias is a serious issue that needs to be addressed by the ABC. It colours their reporting in all aspects they have reach, which were it a privately owned corporation would be illegal. The reach of the ABC extends from foreigners hearing bias from international broadcasts through to children being inducted to hate conservatives. Political reporting is mere barracking on the ABC and it isn't out of place to hear, during an election where the ALP lose a seat to a conservative "We've lost another one." The issue extends to criminal justice where corruption is excused by those they support. People die from bad policy, but the ABC hold firm to those they favour. There are lots of ways it can improve, but those that apologise for ABC incompetence have only recently gotten past denial to acknowledge it is a serious issue. It won't be hard to change the ABC, but it is inconceivable that current management won't change. Highly paid senior journalists who offer their opinion aren't necessary, and actually devalue the ABC. Better would be less experienced journalists held to a standard that is higher than it has been. Dame Leonie Kramer did some magnificent work in the early '80s. That could be a template for moving forward. First there needs to be acknowledgement of fault. The ABC has a long history, but not a proud one. The ABC was founded in hope that a fierce independent broadcaster could improve Australian politics. It never has (I recognise the bald statement, and welcome counter examples). It will take time. Let the work begin.

===For twenty two years I have been responsibly addressing an issue, and I cannot carry on. I am petitioning the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to remedy my distress. I leave it up to him if he chooses to address the issue. Regardless of your opinion of conservative government, the issue is pressing. Please sign my petition at https://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/tony-abbott-remedy-the-persecution-of-dd-ball

Mr Ball, I will not sign your petition as it will do no good, but I will share your message and ask as many of friends who read it, to share it also. Let us see if we cannot use the power of the internet to spread the word of these infamous killings. As a father and a former soldier, I cannot, could not, justify ignoring this appalling action by the perpetrators, whoever they may; I thank you Douglas. You are wrong about the petition. Signing it is as worthless and meaningless an act as voting. A stand up guy would know that. - edLorraine Allen Hider I signed the petition ages ago David, with pleasure, nobody knows what it's like until they've been there. Keep heart David take care.

I have begun a bulletin board (http://theconservativevoice.freeforums.net) which will allow greater latitude for members to post and interact. It is not subject to FB policy and so greater range is allowed in posts. Also there are private members rooms in which nothing is censored, except abuse. All welcome, registration is free.

2010 – A freak storm in the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan triggered a series of at least 36 avalanches that buried over 3.5 km (2.2 mi) of road, killed at least 172 people and trapped over 2,000 travellers.

Now that Mary has gone, we've seen the end of that line. It is about time we made the decision. The Nation has been born. Have a safe flight. Don't just feel the earth move, revel in it. Let's party.
Matches

1963 – The First full Color Television program in the World, publicly advertised, is broadcast in Mexico City by XHGC-TV, Channel 5, due to technical breakthrough advances made by Mexican Engineer Guillermo Gonzalez Camarena.

1983 – The Melbourne dust storm hits Australia's second largest city. The result of the worst drought on record and a day of severe weather conditions, a 320 metres (1,050 ft) deep dust cloud envelops the city, turning day to night.

1986 – Hinton train collision: Twenty-three people are killed when a VIA Rail passenger train collides with a 118-car Canadian National freight train near the town of Hinton, Alberta, west of Edmonton. It is the worst rail accident in Canada until the Lac-Mégantic, Quebec derailment in 2013 which killed forty-seven people.

1993 – General Motors sues NBC after Dateline NBC allegedly rigs two crashes intended to demonstrate that some GM pickups can easily catch fire if hit in certain places. NBC settles the lawsuit the next day.

2010 – A freak storm in the Hindukush mountains of Afghanistan triggers a series of at least 36 avalanches, burying over two miles of road, killing at least 172 people and trapping over 2,000 travelers.

How low can the ABC go?
In tonight’s main TV news bulletin it quoted anonymous twitter abuse of
Tony Abbott by someone known only as “JS”.
No one knows who this anonymous person is, or why their opinion is worth
more than that of any other Australian. The reporter just fished the
comment out of the sewer to attack Abbott.
Would the ABC have ever quoted anonymous Twitter abuse of Julia Gillard?
This is not reporting but editorialising by proxy.

How Malcolm Turnbull
could lead the Liberals to victory: by being less like the real Malcolm
Turnbull. You know - arrogant, headstrong, contemptuous of critics,
embarrassed by the Liberal base.
How Tony Abbott could lead the Liberals to victory: by being more like
the real Tony Abbott. You know - humble, honest, respectful of critics,
loyal to the Liberal base.
Which is more likely?
More on this in tomorrow’s column.

Remember when the polls last warned the Liberals not to choose the “unelectable” Tony Abbott.
It was 2009:

The parliamentary members of the Liberal Party had just chosen to elect a
leader that most of them considered to be unelectable.
Now they had replaced Turnbull, a man nominated as preferred Liberal
leader by 32 per cent of voters in the Herald’s Nielsen poll, with a
man preferred by only 20 per cent.

The polls would have had the Liberals stick with a leader who’d destroy them.
And note: at least Abbott had the guts then to resign and put his job on the line before challenging:

Tony Abbott makes a
perfectly understandable call - to hold the vote to spill leadership
positions tomorrow rather than Tuesday, so Labor doesn’t make the
government a laughing stock in Parliament.
Malcolm Turnbull jeers:

Malcolm Turnbull calls
for a secret ballot on the leadership spill. This - incidentally - means
there is no way of checking whether ministers do what the rules say
they must and vote against a spill.
Turnbull also doesn’t want the spill motion brought forward to tomorrow.
This - incidentally - means Tony Abbott would be left a sitting duck in
Parliament and vulnerable to the Newspoll expected on Tuesday. [NOTE:
Newspoll is being brought forward to tomorrow, in The Australian.]
But Turnbull still won’t resign and announce a challenge.
UPDATE
Abbott brings forward the spill motion to tomorrow.
Next challenge: to ensure there’s a vote in which ministers are seen to fulfill their duty to vote against a spill.
UPDATE
Turnbull, to shore up support, makes clear this morning he will stand
for election as leader if the spill motion is passed. He does this by
noting even ministers are free to stand for election as leader if the
spill motion tomorrow is passed, and he is ringing colleagues.
He mocks Abbott’s decision to move the ballot to tomorrow as another “captain’s call”.
Given Turnbull doesn’t want to be seen as a plotter, his comments suggest he feels he needs more votes on his side.
That said, it is noticeable that Abbott has been given very little
public support by female frontbenchers and members of the Mitch
Fifield/Kelly O’Dwyer grouping.
UPDATE
Now Turnbull goes for a stroll in the street with Julie Bishop at a fundraiser. Side by side.
UPDATE
I’m told I’m unfair to single out Fifield and co. Many others are in the same boat.

Of course, this poll puts a hypothetical and is only the roughest of guides.
But consider: it measures Turnbull when he’s at his mint-fresh best and
Abbott after his cripplingly worst week as PM. But it suggests Turnbull
would still put the Liberals behind Labor (and therefore can’t expect
much of a honeymoon before the onslaught) and that Abbott has been
strong enough this past week not to let the destabilisation destroy him.
And then there’s Bishop. Could Turnbull be gazumped?

MALCOLM Turnbull is prepared to serve as treasurer — if asked — to avert a divisive leadership spill…
But it would mean Tony Abbott cutting loose his friend Joe ­Hockey, whom colleagues believe has failed to sell the Budget....
A source close to Mr ­Turnbull said that as of last week he was prepared
to cut a deal for the Treasury portfolio and as of late Friday night,
it was still a live option.
“That is still an option available to the PM,” a source close to Mr Turnbull said. “It could be the ­circuit-breaker.”

Turnbull replacing Hockey would seem a no-brainer for many in the Abbott
camp, especially if it guarantees some peace for a while. Turnbull
would probably be better in the job and the move could be sold as a
convincing sign of unity after all this destruction. But it would be
high stakes for Turnbull. Success in the job would make him the natural
successor to Abbott, but would delay that succession, too. Failure could
bring him down and open the way for the next generation - a Scott
Morrison, say.
But is this just an attempt to split Abbott from Hockey, one of his big defenders?
UPDATE
If Turnbull or Bishop are truly serious about needing to replace Abbott
they should resign their positions and announce a challenge. Staying on
as ministers requires them to vote against the leadership spill and also
suggests they aren’t quite sure or serious enough to risk their jobs.
Signs of panic:

Worried Liberals are urging Malcolm Turnbull to declare his intention to
challenge Tony Abbott before Tuesday’s proposed leadership spill, to
give the party a clear choice between staying with the Prime Minister or
opting for a new direction.
“Malcolm needs to step forward, sending out hints isn’t going to cut it
when the stakes for everyone else are this high,” said one MP…
“We could be going through all of this for nothing,” said one MP, who
complained it was impossible to count the numbers in the absence of a
candidate.
“What’s the plan, just to leave Tony more wounded?” said another, “that’s crazy, and it won’t go down well with members.”

UPDATE
Many Liberal MPs will surely have been left a little uneasy by footage
in last night’s news bulletins of a brusque Lucy Turnbull shutting the
great iron gates of Turnbull’s massive Point Piper mansion and telling
reporters to go away. How would the Turnbulls go in campaigning in the
critical western Sydney marginal seats?
(Thanks to readers Peter of Bellevue Hill and Paul.)

(N)o matter how bad the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government was, the friendly press gallery and its mates in the ABC/Fairfax never really had a rude word to say about their policies…
[W]ho can’t remember [Laura Tingle’s] endorsement of Gillard’s Medicare
Gold policy at the 2004 election as an idea of pure genius that was
likely to lead to Labor winning the election?
And who also can’t remember the Press Gallery’s unqualified endorsement of Labor’s carbon tax package...?
And then there was the almost hysterical endorsement of Gonski even
though none of the political journalists had the faintest clue of how it
would work…
Of course, the [allegedly pro-Liberal] ‘friends’ in the press of which I
am thinking quite rightly don’t regard themselves as ‘friends’, but
rather as defenders of good policy, small government, freedom of speech,
freedom of contract and the like.
Any party that delivers good policy along these lines is fine by them.
They do belong to a tribe, it’s just that the tribe is not defined as
Labor or Liberal. I’m not sure this is a point that the Liberal Party
quite understands.
There is no doubt that very many commentators (and Coalition supporters)
peeled away when Abbott cowardly backed away from his promise to amend
18C… When it is illegal to offend someone, we are in real trouble when
it comes to civil liberties in this country.
And what was all that rhetoric about the Budget (and the ongoing
ludicrous claim that the Coalition has shaved some $170 billion off
Labor debt – hmmm)? The Budget settings were as soft as blancmange but
Hockey seemed to be happy with the description that it was tough …
again, hmmm…
GP co-payments could have been sold, but in the context of the
ridiculous Future Medical Research Future Fund … again, more peeling off
of commentators. Higher education reforms – too complex…
(T)here is no sense that Abbott and his team should feel betrayed by
commentators in the press. They always knew that that very many
[leftists] in the commentariat would never be impressed, irrespective of
the policies…
But the other commentators have just been looking for principles-based
policies and clear explanations… If Tony is looking for people to blame
for his current predicament , just don’t go looking at your ‘friends’ in
the press.

But Peter of Bellevue Hills objects:

To be fair, has the government blamed its ‘friends’ in the press? In his NPC address,
the PM did touch on one of the most significant media issue facing the
government: outlets publishing Labor’s talking points without proper
critique:

I know that whatever we say or do Labor will run a scare
campaign – I know that. And ... your job, if I may say so, is not to
just run the scare campaign. Your job is to hold all politicians and all
political parties to the same standard of accountability.

True, I’ve been surprised - and left feeling a bit guilty - by the hay the ABC gleefully made over my own criticisms. From Media Watch:

And how come the thoughts of one of Murdoch’s scribes then got to be first story on ABC Radio News next morning?

JOHN LOGAN: Leading this bulletin, right wing commentator
Andrew Bolt delivers a jolt to the Prime Minister in the ... continuing
row over a knighthood for Prince Philip.
— ABC, Radio National, 29th January, 2015

ABC Online also ran Bolt’s jolt as its lead story, while News 24 devoted
almost 25 minutes to his comments in just 3 hours between 6 and 9 am.

Tim Blair – Saturday,February 08,2014 (5:16am)

SMH columnist Mike Carlton’s good points – not history’s longest list – include his appreciation of and contacts within the Royal Australian Navy:

Here’s what my navy sources tell me about those refugees with the burnt hands. Somewhere north of Christmas Island, a party of sailors from the frigate HMAS Parramatta boarded an Indonesian fishing boat.

Some went below to secure the engine-room and were accosted by angry male passengers who were trying to disable the engine. A scuffle broke out. One man apparently set fire to a fuel-soaked rag. A sailor used pepper spray to subdue them. In the uproar, blinded by the fumes, two panicked asylum seekers grabbed hold of hot engine pipes.

The refugees have another story, but I accept this one. Deliberate torture would be impossible to keep secret in the confines of a naval vessel. Such an episode would have got out eventually. It just didn’t happen.

And when confronted with Fairfax’s report of an extensive interview with the asylum seeker who acted as interpreter on the boat in question, and who insisted he’d seen with his own eyes the alleged mistreatment, Senator Johnston dismissed the claims as a ‘’small number of misbehaviours’’.

False. A journalist uses that phrase “a small number of misbehaviours” (from around 3:50 ofthe video) and Johnston repeats the phrase with disdain before telling the journalists to be more careful is using such loaded language:

“Small number of misbehaviours”. Misbehaviours? Let’s be a bit careful about what we say here, please.

On May 15 ... detectives from the major fraud squad visited the Melbourne Magistrates Court to give sworn evidence in an application for a warrant to search and seize documents from Slater & Gordon. Magistrate Lance Martin heard their evidence and duly issued the warrant… Before Martin could issue the warrant, he - not police - had to believe on reasonable grounds that a serious crime had occurred and that the things he specified in the warrant would afford evidence of that crime. We know Martin’s warrant directed police to seize all documents held by Slater & Gordon relating to Wilson, Blewitt, Gillard, the AWU Workplace Reform Association (the slush fund) and a property at 1/85 Kerr Street, Fitzroy, bought with the slush fund’s money by Wilson, who attended the auction with Gillard, and put in Blewitt’s name.The warrant described further evidence: Gillard’s personnel files; her invoices/billings, time sheets and travel records; personnel files in the name of her former secretary; and any record of the exit interview conducted by Peter Gordon with Gillard on September 11, 1995… Martin included documents pertaining to Gillard and the AWU, the conveyance and mortgage file relating to the $150,000 loan advanced to Blewitt for the purchase of 1/85 Kerr Street and deed registers involving the AWU.By May 17, police had seized the documents set out in the warrant, leaving the Slater & Gordon premises with boxes of material…On September 2, Victorian Chief Magistrate Peter Lauritsen heard Detective Sergeant Ross Mitchell’s application for the remaining 360 documents to be handed to the custody of police… During the proceedings, Lauritsen granted The Australian’s request for the release of Mitchell’s written application. That document included the details of the search warrant clearly naming Gillard. It closes by saying that, should Wilson make a claim of privilege, police will argue the claim should be rejected because the documents seized from Gillard’s former office “were made in the furtherance of fraud”.

Gillard insists she did nothing wrong. She says she did not know what her boyfriend did with the slush fund she helped him to set up.
Yet for a star it is certainly arguable that Gillard at the very minimum should not have acted as solicitor for her boyfriend, should not have kept her partners in ignorance of that work, and should not have kept the firm’s big client - the AWU - in ignorance of the work she was doing on her boyfriend’s Australian Workers Union Workplace Reform Association.
Also unresolved is the allegation of client Ralph Blewitt that Gillard did not witness his power of attorney in favor of her boyfriend in Blewitt’s presence, used by Wilson to purchase a house for himself with his slush fund’s cash.
Again. Gillard insists she did nothing improper.

THE Sunshine Coast golf resort and dinosaur park controlled by federal politician Clive Palmer was hit with up to 90 job cuts yesterday amid community and staff concerns that the iconic destination will be shut to stem its rising financial losses… Insiders said that as many as 90 staff were being made redundant, leaving about 90 people still employed there, compared with more than 650 when Mr Palmer acquired the resort three years ago… Investigations by The Weekend Australian have previously highlighted serious financial problems and mounting losses in Mr Palmer’s key companies and businesses, many of which are not profitable.

LEIGH SALES: Let me also ask you: does your Coolum resort in Queensland operate at a profit? CLIVE PALMER: No, it’s where I live and where I enjoy myself and that’s - I keep people employed at a great subsidy ‘cause I love the Sunshine Coast and I love spending my money to keep people employed in the greatest state in Australia.LEIGH SALES: And how long are you prepared to sustain that loss? CLIVE PALMER: Well probably until I die.

WILKINSON: If you look at media in this country ... a lot of media that leans towards the Right. So if the ABC balances things a bit, I think that’s a darn good thing.Glover: That’s not the ABC’s view though ... that’s not the charter, that you’re there to make up for others’ errors, the idea is you’re there in the middle of things, that you’re unbiased. Wilkinson: Which I tend to think is something that leans more towards the Left than to the Right because it’s about free speech, and it’s about natural conversation ...

The natural culture of journalism is a kind of vaguely soft left inquiry, sceptical of authority. I mean, that’s just the world out of which journalists come. If they don’t come out of this world, they really can’t be reporters. I mean, if you are not sceptical of authority – find another job. You know, just find another job.

Odd thing, though. When I had my own free speech taken away by a court it was to the cheers of the Left. When laws were proposed to puts newspapers under state supervision of “bias”, they were drafted by a Labor Government and again cheered by the Left. When the need was urgent to be sceptical of the authorities who swore the world was warming fast and dangerously, the Left refused to challenge the scare and even howled down those who did.
Fact: the ABC is not funded to “balance” the Right-wing media any more than it is funded to “balance” the Left-wing Fairfax media, SBS, Guardian Australia, Canberra press gallery, Lisa Wilkinson, Laurie Oakes, The Project, 2UE, FM hosts,, The Conversation, Crikey, The Monthly and the rest.
Fact: if you want a “natural” conversation, go out into our city streets and towns. What you will hear will make the ABC’s obsessions with boat people, same sex marriage and global warming sound most unnatural.
Fact: the Left has not been the defender of free speech but the enemy.
Still, it’s good that the ABC’s apologists are abandoning the deceitful “ABC isn’t biased” stand, and retreating to the “yes but”.

The question then is how wise we are to import people not just so ignorant about Australia, but so tolerant of grown men marrying girls just 13:

FORCED marriages of underage girls might be commonplace in certain communities in Sydney, according to the NSW Minister for Community Services, Pru Goward, who spoke yesterday following the arrest of a 26-year-old man charged with 25 counts of sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl… Police claim the man and child were married in a religious ceremony last month. Appearing in court yesterday speaking through an Arabic-language interpreter, he made no application for bail, which was formally refused… Eman Sharobeem from the Immigrant Women’s Health Service ... said new-immigrant communities were often ignorant of local laws and customs.

What other “local laws and customs” as fundamental as these are they ignorant of and likely to breach?
Oh, and why this coyness about “certain communities”? Why no mention in the report of Islam?
(Thanks to reader Ian.)

The question is whether the political and commentator class is capable of analysing and responding to a policy disagreement between Australia and Indonesia with anything approaching calmness, rationality, balance, a sense of proportion and some basic knowledge. By far the most foolish analysis, important only because it is representative, was written by Laura Tingle in The Australian Financial Review. She wrote that: “The Indonesian navy is now not patrolling looking for asylum-seeker boats but for the Australian navy.”This is completely untrue and was never true at any point.Tingle went on: “Indonesia watchers also warn of even darker currents. They point out that China has already provided naval patrol assistance to both Fiji and Vanuatu. An overstretched and very pissed-off Indonesia might be prepared to consider also accepting some assistance.” To compare the strategic outlook of Indonesia with that of Vanuatu is almost deranged. But to think that a disagreement with Canberra over boatpeople would lead to a fundamental pro-Chinese strategic realignment by Jakarta, or that sovereignty-obsessed Indonesia would allow the Chinese to take over patrolling duties in its coastal waters, is beyond absurdity. That a senior member of the Canberra press gallery could print such infantile nonsense, which could only emerge from a complete lack of knowledge about anything to do with Indonesia’s strategic culture, demonstrates how extremely ill-equipped many mainstream commentators are to deal with anything related to Indonesia at all.

Another false claim from warmist Tim Flannery, who has said so much that turned out wrong:

Flannery says he does not like to talk much about his living arrangements, as the famously temperate broadcaster Ray Hadley revealed the location of Flannery’s house on the Hawkesbury River, and News Ltd’s mild-mannered columnist Andrew Bolt published details of his mortgage.

I have never published details of Flannery’s mortgage and, what’s more, do not know anyone who has, although a Daily Telegraph reporter once mentioned only that the mortgage on Flannery former home was held by the ANZ Bank . I have no idea how Flannery could even begin to justify that slur, but I have some idea why The Sydney Morning Herald would believe such an unlikely thing and publish it without checking its truth..

There is a danger in basing the case against the ABC’s bias exclusively on the ABC’s eager reporting of the “torture” claims, given those claims cannot be entirely ruled out on the evidence before us.
Rather, the fury of so many Liberals should be explained by making explicit the long history of ABC bias, coupled with the ABC’s extraordinary and dangerous size:

TONY Abbott faces a push from within his cabinet to call a wide-ranging inquiry into the ABC’s editorial standards, after his Defence Minister launched an extraordinary attack on the broadcaster for airing unsubstantiated claims that navy personnel physically abused asylum-seekers. Venting his anger, David Johnston accused the ABC yesterday of having “maliciously maligned” the navy and said he was dissatisfied with “weasel words of apology” from senior management.The minister’s comments ... reflect widespread sentiment in the Abbott government that the ABC’s news and current affairs coverage has a left-wing bias against Coalition policy, and should be reined in.The Prime Minister shares the concerns of his colleagues about the ABC’s balance, after declaring that it too often took the side of others and not Australia, although he declined yesterday to lend his support to a wider inquiry into standards at the government-funded broadcaster…Senator Johnston said yesterday he was “absolutely sick to the stomach” that the ABC would attack the navy in the way it had… In a separate interview with The Weekend Australian, Senator Johnston stepped up his attack on the ABC, saying that a review of editorial standards should focus on the organisation’s annual budget, which he believed was “too big”, and its inclination to “make the news” rather than report it.

But to really expose ABC bias, Liberal MPs would have to speak frankly about the ABC’s global warming catastrophism. Are they up for that fight?
UPDATESame brawl now in Britain:

THE BBC has a “cultural leaning to the left” and needs to work on its impartiality, a British cabinet minister says. Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said the BBC did things that were not “right and proper” for a public broadcaster, saying the problems were not just confined to current affairs programs but also affected entertainment shows. “I think there’s still an inclination to cover issues in a way that is very much about the culture of a slightly left-leaning, metropolitan group of people who are disproportionately represented there,” he said.

So here’s what my navy sources tell me about those refugees with the burnt hands. Somewhere north of Christmas Island, a party of sailors from the frigate HMAS Parramatta boarded an Indonesian fishing boat. Some went below to secure the engine-room and were accosted by angry male passengers who were trying to disable the engine. A scuffle broke out. One man apparently set fire to a fuel-soaked rag. A sailor used pepper spray to subdue them. In the uproar, blinded by the fumes, two panicked asylum seekers grabbed hold of hot engine pipes.

Like all things in life, it’s a balancing act. And, ummm, to be a good leader I think you have to be on the same level as the people that you’re leading. I think the minute you, you, hear of, you there’s a hierarchy that takes place where you can’t be told that you’re being a jerk or that, nah, you’re a bit off, I think you’re wrong, I think this is a bit [sic]. “I don’t think you’re listening to me John, or I don’t feel like I’m being respected or heard”. If I don’t have that kind of two way street of dialogue and respect, I feel that you’re then not being a good leader. At the same time, yeah, I am the leader of this thing and I should be – If it’s something I think about, if it’s something I get anxious about and think about too much, is offending people and how to kind of lead in a way that doesn’t disenfranchise people and doesn’t disempower people. But, you know, doesn’t step on their toes. And we live in a country that the the tall poppy [sic]. So like, you know, lead but not too much because then they will hate you. Uumm, ummm, so, you know, I think leadership is an amazing thing. Someone told me the other day, which was really great, a leadership is not being a delegator of all the information. It’s about being a visionary. It’s about having the big ideas and then having the great people around you that you respect and you trust and you [sic] can do things that you can’t do to help dedicate that and help bring that to life.

Hmm. Sounds like a Green. You know, irrational, unformed, undisciplined in thought. Evelating feelings above reason.
But Butler doesn’t like being typecast as the caricature of a Green - you know, like he, um, sort of,like, is:

Jane Hutcheon : In your view in Australia, who is a good leader, who’s a visionary?John Butler: I think there’s a great senator, a great Greens’ senator called Scott Ludlam, he’s a great visionary. I think people like Tim Winton are great visionaries.Jane Hutcheon : Any of our politicians?John Butler: Umm, I think, I think, I think Peter Garrett actually is a very brave and, um, powerful visionary. Somebody who’s, he was happy to put everything on the line in what he believed in. So, I, I, I, admire bravery – and bravery to throw reputation to the wind almost in a way because you believe in a cause. So, um, Christine Milne I think she stands for – I think Bob Brown is great. I mean, I think all the viewers are going to go “Oh classic Greenie” here. But two-party, two-party politics in this country or America is a joke. It’s an absolute joke. I think Labor and Liberal are exactly the same thing and I think Tony Abbott, is, is, is an embarrassment to have as a leader, personally.

The hour is approaching when the message will come to us, as it comes to all--"Arise, and go forth from the home in which thou hast dwelt, from the city in which thou hast done thy business, from thy family, from thy friends. Arise, and take thy last journey." And what know we of the journey? And what know we of the country to which we are bound? A little we have read thereof, and somewhat has been revealed to us by the Spirit; but how little do we know of the realms of the future! We know that there is a black and stormy river called "Death." God bids us cross it, promising to be with us. And, after death, what cometh? What wonder-world will open upon our astonished sight? What scene of glory will be unfolded to our view? No traveller has ever returned to tell. But we know enough of the heavenly land to make us welcome our summons thither with joy and gladness. The journey of death may be dark, but we may go forth on it fearlessly, knowing that God is with us as we walk through the gloomy valley, and therefore we need fear no evil. We shall be departing from all we have known and loved here, but we shall be going to our Father's house--to our Father's home, where Jesus is--to that royal "city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." This shall be our last removal, to dwell forever with him we love, in the midst of his people, in the presence of God. Christian, meditate much on heaven, it will help thee to press on, and to forget the toil of the way. This vale of tears is but the pathway to the better country: this world of woe is but the stepping-stone to a world of bliss.

Without considering these words in their prophetical connection, let us regard them as the invitation of our great Forerunner to his sanctified people. In due time there shall be heard "a great voice from heaven" to every believer, saying, "Come up hither." This should be to the saints the subject of joyful anticipation. Instead of dreading the time when we shall leave this world to go unto the Father, we should be panting for the hour of our emancipation. Our song should be--

"My heart is with him on his throne,And ill can brook delay;Each moment listening for the voice,Rise up and come away.'"

We are not called down to the grave, but up to the skies. Our heaven-born spirits should long for their native air. Yet should the celestial summons be the object of patient waiting. Our God knows best when to bid us "Come up hither." We must not wish to antedate the period of our departure. I know that strong love will make us cry,

"O Lord of Hosts, the waves divide,And land us all in heaven;"

but patience must have her perfect work. God ordains with accurate wisdom the most fitting time for the redeemed to abide below. Surely, if there could be regrets in heaven, the saints might mourn that they did not live longer here to do more good. Oh, for more sheaves for my Lord's garner! m

ore jewels for his crown! But how, unless there be more work? True, there is the other side of it, that, living so briefly, our sins are the fewer; but oh! when we are fully serving God, and he is giving us to scatter precious seed, and reap a hundredfold, we would even say it is well for us to abide where we are. Whether our Master shall say "go," or "stay," let us be equally well pleased so long as he indulges us with his presence.

Because he carried out the religious reforms of his father, history gives Jehoshaphat a good name. What a beautiful expression that is " . . .he walked in the first ways of his father David" - meaning in the former or earlier ways of David, as contrasted with his later conduct. Because of his godward bent, "the Lord was with Jehoshaphat." Negatively, he "sought not after Baalim."

Here was a man who in every point was equally strong, a man of foresight, a man of reverence, a man of an honest heart, a man who felt that idolatry and true worship could not coexist in the same breast. He did not concern himself with "the doings of Israel." His was a blessed, spiritual singularity. He laid down a clear program for himself, and followed it out with patient and faithful endeavor. He did not seek riches and honor. No wonder the Lord "established the kingdom in his hand"! Points for the preacher to develop are:

VI. He manifested weakness in his alliance with wicked kings (1 Kings 22:1-36).

4. Son of Nimshi and father of Jehu, who conspired against Joram, son of king Ahab (2 Kings 9:2, 14).

5. One of the priests who assisted in bringing up the Ark from Obed-edom (1 Chron. 15:24). Also the name of a valley east of Jerusalem which figures in coming judgment (Joel 3:2, 12). See also Josaphat.

Name Meaning: Dinah means "justice" or "one who judges," and was doubtless given her as a token of her parents' belief in divine justice.

Family Connections: She was a daughter of Jacob and Leah, and as a member of a family under covenant blessing should have been more careful regarding her personal obligation in maintaining the honor of her home and nation.

Dinah's love for sight-seeing set off a train of tragic consequences. Young and daring, and curious to know something of the world outside, she stole away one day from the drab tents of her father, to see how the girls in their gorgeous Oriental trappings fared in nearby Shechem. Roaming around, the eyes of Prince Shechem, son of Hamor lighted upon her. He saw her means he lusted after her (see Job 31:1), and then as the record puts it, "he took her, lay with her, and defiled her" (Genesis 34:2 ). Although Dinah's vanity was flattered at Shechem's attention so that she went to his palace, she never meant to go so far. Took her implies he forced her, and although she may have resisted his advances, resistance was futile and she was seduced.

Had Dinah been content to remain a "keeper at home" (Titus 2:5), a terrible massacre would have been averted, but her desire for novelty and forbidden company spelled disaster. Josephus tells us that Dinah went to the Canaanite annual festival of nature worship (Numbers 25:2) - a forbidden association for an Israelite. Sin, shame and death came to Dinah and Shechem through the windows of their eyes and ears (seeGenesis 39:7 ). The young prince offered the usual reparation for his seduction of Dinah - marriage and a payment to her father which was sufficient according to Hebrew law (Deuteronomy 22:28-29). Evidently there was more than lustful desire on the part of Shechem, for we read - "His soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto her." When Hamor went to Jacob and his sons to discuss the matter of marriage between his son and Dinah, he said, "The soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter. I pray you give her him to wife."

The sons of Jacob, angry over the shame brought to their sister and nation, said that such a thing "ought not to be done." By what Dinah had become - a seduced woman - she caused her father to be a "stink among the inhabitants of the land."

Seeming to acquiesce in Hamor's suggestion that his son and Dinah should marry and that there should be established a friendlier association between the Israelites and Shechemites, the sons of Jacob, particularly Simeon and Levi, said that they would agree to Hamor's proposition on one condition. The condition was that all the male Shechemites submit to the rite of circumcision - an act of priestly consecration. When the pain of the operation was at its height and movement was difficult, on the third day, Simeon and Levi attacked and slew all the males in the city, including young Shechem himself. For centuries, among the Arabs, seduction was punishable by death, the judgment being generally inflicted by the brothers of the one seduced. For their crime, Simeon and Levi received a curse instead of a blessing from Jacob their father, as he came to die.

One salutary effect of this tragedy was the reconsecration of Jacob who had lapsed somewhat as the result of his settlement near Shechem (Genesis 33:17-20). Remembering his vow to make an altar at Bethel to God who had appeared to him while fleeing from Esau years before, his family surrendered their strange gods and purified themselves, and at Bethel the forgotten covenant was fulfilled. In this way God overruled evil for good (Genesis 35:1-5).

How many young Dinahs there are today captivated by the glitter and glamor of the world, and, tired of life at home, leave without warning, and become lost in the whirl of a large city. There is an alarming increase in the numbers of girls who, anxious for change and wanting to see something of the world, turn aside from the shelter of a good home and are never heard of again. Many of them end up in sin, crime and degradation. May we never cease to pray for those who try to seek out and restore the lost, young womanhood of our day!

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Today's reading: Leviticus 1-3, Matthew 24:1-28 (NIV)

The Burnt Offering

1 The LORD called to Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting. He said, 2 "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When anyone among you brings an offering to the LORD, bring as your offering an animal from either the herd or the flock.

3 "'If the offering is a burnt offering from the herd, you are to offer a male without defect. You must present it at the entrance to the tent of meeting so that it will be acceptable to the LORD....

The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times

1 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2"Do you see all these things?" he asked. "Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."

3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"

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About Me

I'm author of History in a Year by the Conservative Voice aka History of the World in a Year by the Conservative Voice.

I'm the Conservative Voice.

I'm looking to make contact with those who might use my skill.

I have an m-audio mobile pre amp fed by the audiotechnica 2041sp condensor mic pack. Prior to 15/4/06, I'd used a Shure sm-58 that required a nuclear blast to register a sound or the internal mic of my aged imac, which has a penchance to recording my breathing. I also used a Griffin itrip, until the community convinced me it was not hiding my talent as well as the other mics.

I am a Writer and an occasional Math Teacher (Sir, what's the occasion?). I like to sing, having no instrumental talent (cannot even clap in time, and yes, I'm aware singing badly IS obnoxious).

I have performed the finale to Les Miserables before an audience of 500. I have also sung before a similar audience (students, parents) renditions of 'I Will' (Beatles), 'Mr Cairo' (Jon Vangelis) and 'I am Australian' (Seekers). Now I seek another profession because the audience hates me ..